By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Councilors and taxpayers could get their first look at tax incentives for two Mount Auburn Avenue retail developments late this week.

The city is still trying to figure out how much help developers will need to pay for a Kohl’s department store on one side of Mount Auburn Avenue and a Ruby Tuesday and LongHorn Steakhouse on the other.

“On one hand, we have the costs that it will take to make the projects happen,” said city Economic Development Director Roland Miller. “On the other, we have how much help the City Council is willing to extend. Between the two, that’s what we hope to have settled.”

Councilors should vote by late September to create the new Tax Increment Financing district, which includes the site of the old Wal-Mart, which would be torn down to make way for a new Kohl’s, and the empty lot across Mount Auburn Avenue.

Under the TIF deal, part of the property taxes on those developments would be returned to developer George Schott, Miller said. Schott’s attorneys are working with attorneys from Kohl’s, the restaurants and developer S.R. Weiner to determine how that money would be split up.

“The city is not involved in those discussions at all,” Miller said. “However, the City Council has the final say on that district.”

The city will use a second TIF to pay for road and highway improvements along Center Street and Mount Auburn Avenue. That’s waiting on traffic engineering studies of the area and won’t be ready for another month.

“We want to have any improvements, like lane widening or new medians, built before the project opens,” Miller said.

The city created that TIF district just for that purpose years ago, but never activated it. It has been approved by the City Council and is recognized by the state.

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